From the desk of the CEO

At Uecomm, we are the final couple of months off our financial year and the company is buzzing with activity; signing customer contracts, provisioning networks, designing new products and finalising the integration of our sales, marketing and commercial functions within Optus Business.

In April/May 2009, Optus and Uecomm jointly made the decision to commence merging the businesses to take advantage of broad operational efficiencies and related product capabilities and features. The integration of our sales and marketing teams is well underway and is set to ensure both an improved customer experience and make a broader suite of products available to our customers.

There are many benefits of this integration and they are focused on continuing to ensure the best outcome for our customers and their business. Customers will benefit from the seamless integration of services and sales. Through our combined synergies we will provide stronger solutions and a greater breadth of offerings and we will have the ability to leverage Optus product offerings for our customers.

An example of how we will further utilise the Optus infrastructure to deliver both depth and breadth of services, is our Ethernet over Copper (EoC) service which will be launched in April 2010.

Our reputation for customer service has always been excellent and last year, we were proud to accept the CSIA Award for Customer Service Excellence in a Help Desk. Initially it was terrific to simply be named as the Victorian winner; so needless to say we were delighted with the ultimate result, being named a National Finalist in this category.

Once again, one of our customers is pleased to share their Uecomm experiences with you and in this edition we provide a copy of the Jennifer Foreshew article from the Australian IT 15 Dec 09, the result of her interview with Servcorp unified communications group executive Daniel Kukucka.

Our customers have often told us that they like to hear about things that happen at Uecomm. So in this edition, we have included an article written by a group of Uecomm people, regarding their Kokoda Track hike in October 2009. The story gives some insight into the Uecomm culture and how our people work together; they enjoy a challenge and across departments and teams they join together to achieve their goals. We’re really proud of our Kokoda crew and I’m sure you will find their story inspiring and uplifting.

And in other activities, we were proud to once again join with Interactive as the principal partners for the 2009 Scope Golf Challenge, and a short article regarding this sponsorship is included in this edition of the newsletter.

Until next time, with warm wishes for a productive and successful 2010.

Regards

Ian Noble
Acting CEO and Director of Technology

return to top

Servcorp needed a service provider that could deliver flexibility, quality customer service

Jennifer Foreshew
Reprinted from: The Australian
December 15, 2009

WHEN office facilities provider Servcorp found its existing network provider was unable to meet its scalability and customer service requirements, it shopped around for another.

Keen to keep its business ahead of the competition, Servcorp also wanted a provider that shared its passion for delivering on client demands.

Servcorp, whose head office is in Sydney, has 16 locations in Australia and 70 globally, including Auckland, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Mumbai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Brussels.

Servcorp required swift provisioning of new services and the flexibility for urgent short-term, high-bandwidth changes to meet new client needs.

"Having our provider change quickly for us was a major problem," Servcorp unified communications group executive Daniel Kukucka said. "The second issue was the customer service. The original provider was a very large telco," which meant it was difficult to get it to service the company's particular needs.

"We would have to go through the normal channels regardless of the size of our account in comparison to its other clients," he said.

"Where you would speak to a level-one person, who would log a ticket and escalate to a level-two person and they would look into it and escalate it to level-three, it just seemed like it took forever to get any kind of resolution on any issue we had."

In the next 12 to 18 months, Servcorp is planning to expand strongly, particularly, in the US and Britain, as well as in Australia. "We needed scalability, flexibility and a telecommunications provider that was able to adapt with our needs," Mr Kukucka said.

"We needed something that gave us the speed and reliability that we not only depend on as a business, but our clients are dependent on."

Clients can use Servcorp's office facilities, which are fitted out in five-star environments.

The company also provides communications needs such as internet services, voice services and any other IT help required by a client, which is typically a small-to-medium enterprise.

Servcorp, which has between 450-500 staff globally, started its search for a new provider in February, before deciding on Uecomm and undertaking a month-long installation process.

"Having such a large network, it really flagged quite a few telecommunications providers to come visit us," Mr Kukucka said.

Uecomm provided Servcorp with an Ethernet WAN and internet services for all 16 sites in Australia, boosting the network's robustness, reliability and scalability.

Uecomm also increased bandwidth at key sites to accommodate business growth and ongoing client requirements.

Uecomm has replicated the existing network structure. All sites are connected to Uecomm's fibre network, and for sites where redundancy was required, both Uecomm and Optus fibre was used.

"To have a sales representative and a technical representative come from a telecommunications provider and passionately speak about their product instilled some confidence in the decision we made," Mr Kukucka said.

One of the benefits of Uecomm was that any capacity needs could be supplied within 24 hours.

"With our business, and particularly our clients, being highly dependent on the service we provide, that type of service was something we couldn't find with other providers, and it was really important to us."

Servcorp can also speak directly with Uecomm's network operations centre to get information first-hand. "Our overseas locations are highly dependent on what happens in head office, so we really needed the ability to communicate with them, and basically the network is the core component of that," Mr Kukucka said.

Servcorp also noticed improved performances in accessing applications at locations such as Paris and the Middle East.

"Ultimately, we can run our voice traffic over this network, so it gives us the ability to call between our locations and provide such services to our clients," he said.

return to top

Uecomm/Interactive SCOPE golf challenge

For the second year running, Uecomm was proud to join with Interactive to sponsor the Scope Golf Challenge.

The Uecomm and Interactive 2009 Scope Golf Challenge teed off in October 2009 to support Victorians with a disability to access the equipment they need to live their lives.

The need to resource Scope’s Equipment Fund is ongoing. This Fund assists children and adults to pay for the equipment and home modifications they require to be able to move around their home, attend school, go to work, and get out and about in their local community.

Elizabeth Lodge, Sponsorship Manager, Scope said they were thrilled to welcome back Uecomm and Interactive as the principal partners of the 2009 Scope Golf Challenge. “We’d like to sincerely thank Uecomm and Interactive for their ongoing support of people with a disability.”

Over 100 golfers plus clients, families, community and corporate supporters, Directors and staff enjoyed a friendly, challenging game of golf at Yarra Yarra Golf Club in East Bentleigh.

In what was perhaps a fitting end to the day, the Uecomm team headed by VIC Sales Manager Jules Boyd, scooped the pool and took home the winners trophy.

Scope is a not-for-profit organisation providing disability services throughout Victoria to thousands of children and adults with physical and multiple disabilities. www.scopevic.org.au

return to top

Uecomm boosts Telco Service image

Telecommunications help desks often get a bad wrap when it comes to their customer service delivery.  Yet it’s not all doom and gloom!

Late last year, Uecomm won the Victorian Award for Service Excellence in a Help Desk at the 2009 Australian Service Excellence Awards.  Uecomm also received a Highly Commended for the national award.

Operated by the Customer Service Institute of Australia (CSIA), the Awards seek out the country’s top-performers in the delivery of superior customer service.

Uecomm’s Acting CEO and Director of Technology, Ian Noble, says this recognition is important to Uecomm and its team of dedicated staff, as a means of demonstrating the value of the consistently high service they provide to customers.

“Any business can get carried away with talking about being customer-focused.  We have actually embedded customer service into every level of our organisation, from recruitment to reward and recognition programs.

“Our Network Operations Centre (NOC) is the foundation of our customer experience and we’ve taken all measures to ensure that this first point of communication is in line with our commitment to customer service.” said Noble.

According to Noble, the NOC is a key differentiator for Uecomm and a major driver for customers seeking a telecommunications partner.

“Our NOC is not a call centre; rather a 24/7 service centre for all customer needs. It’s manned by qualified engineers which means that when a customer calls the NOC, more than 80 per cent of issues are fixed by the person who takes the call.

“When you’re in the telecommunications industry, your customers are dependent on your service delivery.  If they’ve got an issue with their communications, it needs to resolved in the shortest possible time.  That’s why we invest in our NOC.”

return to top

Uecomm team hikes the Kokoda Track

This is a story about a group of Uecomm people and friends who shared a common goal to hike the Kokoda Track.

For many it was a personal journey and for all it was in Remembrance of the WW2 soldiers who defended our country.

The team started training in February 09 in Mt Dandenong at locations trekking company Kokoda Spirit recommended. We started off at a place called “The Thousand Steps” which has been dedicated to the Kokoda track and the soldiers who fought and died there. The thousand steps have many monuments and plaques along the way to the top. I remember my first attempt on these steps where we stopped I think 5 times on this 15 minute walk to catch our breath. The Glasgow track was the place that was supposedly the closest thing to the rocky, steep terrain encountered on the Kokoda track. From where we parked the car the Glasgow track is 1 km in length and over 350m high. We also did a couple of seven hour hikes from Warburton to the top of Mt Donna Buang to get some endurance training which paid dividends because most days on the Kokoda track we trekked for ten hours.

Our Kokoda Spirit Trek Leader was an ex Vietnam Veteran named Dennis Nichol. This was Dennis’s 20th trek and he was enthusiastic and knowledgeable.  The first thing he said to us as a group was “we will finish this adventure together”. His insight into every event that took place during WW2 on this track was outstanding and it is his commitment to these Aussie Diggers that keeps their story alive. For every conflict that took place on the Kokoda track a monument has been erected to commemorate that battle paying homage to Australian Soldiers, Papua New Guinea “Fuzzy Wuzzy's” and soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.

The head Porter’s name was Gideon who was hiking his 91st Kokoda trek with us which I think is the record for the most times across this track. Gideon’s job, apart from managing his team of Porters, was to be at the end of the line in last place. In the event one of the team fell back he would look after them. Every couple of hours they would break into song - they seemed to know when we needed a “pick me up” and would start singing. Their favorite song was ‘Take me home country road’ in pigeon English. Some of the Porters wore proper hiking boots, other wore thongs the whole trip and Dennis’s porter wore a runner on his left foot and a thong on his right foot.

Day eight was our last day and we set off at about 7am. We were about two hours out of Kokoda. You could feel the energy and anticipation of the team; though I’m not sure if it was the finish or the thought of a cold beer and a hot shower!

When we crossed the line the emotions were flowing, joy, achievement, relief, sadness, some even shed a tear. We set ourselves an individual challenge with a number of individual reasons; however as a team we achieved our goal.
This trip certainly gave us an appreciation of what the Aussie diggers went through during WW2. A lot of the soldiers who fought and died on this track were just teenagers who learned pretty quick how to survive and look after each other in the face of overwhelming odds.

If you want an adventure that is full of personal challenges, physical exhaustion highly emotional and an experience you will never forget then this is the trip for you. 

return to top